At the Dawn of the Future
by Sarah August
Summary: Elena once again finds herself caught between two brothers and her past might ruin her future. Sequel to LATDOF.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **At the Dawn of the Future

**Summary: **Sequel to Lovers at the Dawn of Forever. Picks up ten years later. Caught between two brothers, Elena's future becomes very clear. Elena must sacrifice everything when Klaus returns for her and their daughter. Can Elijah forgive her for what she's about to do?

**Disclaimer: **The Vampire Diaries and it's Characters don't belong to me.

**Notes: **I write Fan Fiction for a hobby, so there will be grammar mistakes through out. I wasn't going to get this going until later in the summer, however I found myself already writing it and thought I should start this. I will update whenever possible.

**Pairings: **Elijah/Elena, Damon/Elena, Klaus/Elena, Damon/Katherine

**Author: **Sarah August

**Part 1**

It had been years since I had last seen Damon Salvatore. It had been the week before I had left Mystic Falls with little Claudia and Elijah.

The break up had been difficult. I had loved Damon, however my connection and my feelings about Elijah could not be ignored anymore. I was utterly, completely lost in what I felt for the original vampire. My feelings and my love for him was the reason I kept waking up every day for. It kept me holding on, waiting to see what was next. I made Damon promise to stay in touch. He had left town before I did. True to his word, he answered our letters, however he addressed them to my daughter only.

He told me he didn't know how to let me go, but he would try if it made me happy. Staying away, letting me live my life with Elijah, was his way of trying, and I would always love him for putting me so high above himself. Damon had finally learned how to love someone more than himself and I was proud of him and happy.

I was surprised to hear that he was now hanging around Katherine again. In a way I felt happy for him too. Perhaps being with her would help Damon with the loss of Stefan, and me.

I had left Mystic Falls, saying goodbye to Rick and Jeremy. They were both my family, and always would be. Rick promised me to always watch out for my little brother. There had been hugs and tears. Rick hadn't wanted to let me go. I was one of the remaining links he had left to Jenna. But with my silent urging he decided to ultimately trust me.

I had told him about my pregnancy and about my daughter before I had left. Before then, I had been hiding her with Damon, unable to know how to begin to explain what had happened to me with Klaus.

I had lied about her parentage, telling them Elijah was the father and that we got together after Klaus had turned me. Somehow I knew Rick didn't believe me, however he was willing to accept the lie for my sake.

Elijah had then taken us to Spain. We had lived there for five years before moving to Italy and then back to another home he had outside of a small Village in England.

It was now ten years since I had left Mystic Falls. Claudia appeared to look like a seventeen year old girl. Her rapid growth had finally ended after the first five years. If I still had been fully human, I would be almost twenty-eight. I had given into becoming a hybrid at Elijah's urging after I realized it was going to help me protect my family.

I would also be strong enough to stand against Klaus on my own, should he ever return.

Elijah had taught me about self defense in our years together, and how to kill another vampire effectively. Killing a werewolf had been surprising much harder to do.

I kept in touch with Rick and Jeremy over the years. To my surprise, Rick and Bonnie had gotten married a few years ago. Jeremy had went on to college and married to his college sweetheart. Jeremy had been the one to end the relationship when he realized how better suited Rick seemed to be for Bonnie. He hadn't been surprised to hear they had gotten together.

Rick and Bonnie had a three year old son, Jack. Their daughter, Elena, named for myself of course, was almost a year old.

Family life really suited Rick and Bonnie. I hoped to visit them very soon. My Claudia had the intention soon to visit her Uncle Edward, Elijah's brother, who was living in Canada at the moment. It would be the perfect time to return home and see my family, and still keep myself close to Claudia, however giving her the space she obviously wanted.

I had the appearance of a twenty-something year old, deciding to give into all my aspects when I did. Looking at us both, one would assume that Claudia was my younger sister, not my ten year old daughter.

When we traveled to a new place, Claudia often referred to Elijah and myself as aunt and uncle when we were in the company of humans. Claudia often spun my own tale to others, telling them her real parents died in a car accident when she was young and she went to live with her mothers younger sister and her husband.

It was a story that worked and no one questioned. It was a story that kept her hidden from Klaus for the last decade.

Claudia had approached the subject of her parentage to me, on more than one occasion. She was realizing how different she was from Elijah and how impossible it was for a vampire to father a child of their own. Even for an original.

I told Claudia she was my miracle baby and she was our blessing in this life. I told her that Elijah truly loved her, unconditionally, and he was her father in every sense that mattered. He was there to help her and guide her and he always would be.

Her aunt Claudia had told her the story of Klaus, her other older brother that no one ever talked about anymore. Elijah had nearly killed Claudia for daring to be the one to tell our Claudia about Klaus. She never knew he even existed and that had protected her, until now. Now she knew he existed and my daughter, ever curious like myself, would search until she discovered more.

I feared for the day she found out how she truly came about. She was my little beauty, my Claudia, and I loved her more than anything. It did not matter to me how she got here. Not anymore.

It was my intervention that had stopped Elijah from going after his sister. I told him that Claudia hadn't meant any harm. She loved her brothers, all of them, and us. Elijah had then apologized, but had ordered Claudia to stay away from us. He no longer trusted her to be near our Claudia or me.

The separation of brother and sister hurt me as well. Elijah had just got her back ten years ago and they were now no longer speaking. Elijah told me not to think of it. A decade was an eye blink after the first thirty or fifty times.

This was why I longed to go home and see my family. I missed family. I missed the sense that was so familiar.

Plus I longed to see Bonnie again, and Rick, and meet their kids. I hoped Jeremy and Alice had moved back home by now. Alice was Jeremy's wife of four years.

"I want to go home."

I had found Elijah sitting on the balcony, over looking our old court yard and the lake at the center of it. The flowers were dancing in the wind and the sunlight.

"I felt you were considering this, with Claudia's new plans and all." Elijah commented lightly. A smirk played on his lips and I smiled.

"I miss them. It's been so long." I replied honestly. My heart ached to see everyone. Elijah stood up, his suit shirt was loose and I smiled. I like the look on him.

Elijah stood before me and slowly kissed me on the lips before letting me go.

"Are you going to tell them about us?"

"They already know that we're together." I defended myself. I felt an old argument coming on.

Elijah felt I was afraid to let those know in my old life that I had a life with a three-thousand-year -old original vampire It couldn't be further from the truth. I loved this vampire, this man before me, passionately, desperately so. I could not picture my life without him now, and I wouldn't want to live life without him.

I had been in love before, truly and deeply. I had loved before, and passionately. But what I felt for Elijah was more then anything I had ever felt before in my entire life. There were no words to express what I felt.

It was like I had been born to be with him forever.

"Yet you have hesitation." Elijah shot back. His tone was surprisingly accusatory, however he decided to steal another kiss before I could call him on it.

"I'm nervous." I admitted.

"You're one of the very few hybrids to ever exist in the history of time, my lovely Elena, and yet you fear your family?" Elijah now sounded amused. Very amused. "You can kill anyone within a blink of an eye, and you fear humans?"

"They're just not any humans." I pushed him back slightly. He laughed at me. "I love them."

"...What of the elusive Mr. Salvatore?" Elijah then countered. His tone was suddenly serious. He sounded even jealous and I couldn't believe it.

I cared for Damon still, however he wasn't the one I wanted to be with. This one before me was the one I had wanted. He had taken away my nightmares when I slept. I no longer had dreams about what happened with Klaus. This one was ever so careful of my feelings, my wants, my dislikes, and most importantly, he listened to me. He took me seriously, and no one ever did that before.

A part of me would always love Damon. When Stefan died, he was there to lift me up and force me to move on. I had fallen in love with Damon for it. He was my dark hero. But I soon realized that I wasn't in love with him in the way that I should be. Damon was there to fill an empty space in my life and he had done so very well.

He had helped me with my pregnancy and with caring for my Claudia those first few months. I had fallen for him because of the kindness he had shown me.

But there had been one fatal flaw to our relationship.

As wonderful as Damon had been to me, he wasn't Elijah.

I had walked away from Damon towards the love that I knew would fill up my life until the end of my time on Earth, whenever that might be now.

I had loved Damon, but I had never regretted my choice. Not ever.

Because I adored the one before me now. More than anything.

I always would.

"He still keeps in touch, but through letters to Claudia. He's been with Katherine the last few years. I think it's good for him."

"...After the last time..."

"Believe it or not, I think Katherine sincerely cares about Damon. She proved it, and more than once. She sought him out after we had left. She was tired of being alone."

Elijah seemed surprised at my defense. But he wasn't amused either.

"Will he be there?" Elijah shot at me.

I blinked. "I have no idea." I smiled. I then moved towards him and wrapped him in my arms. I cuddled into him and forced him to hold me.

He slowly eased his tension and I grinned.

"You know you're the only one for me, right?" I shot back swiftly after a long silence. "I love you, Elijah, and I only want you. Ever."

"Are you going to tell them that I am your husband?"

Now where the hell did that come from?

"Excuse me?" I teased. I chuckled into his chest.

"I'll go see them, Elena. But only if you're my wife when we do so."

I was stunned and looked up at him. He hadn't brought up the marriage idea in over nine years. The last time was when he felt he had to marry me because I had a child and I wasn't married. I was so insulted and felt he was with me only because of some old family honor thing. I had refused to ever marry him and blew him off entirely.

I had taken Claudia and we left him for over a month. He had found us in New York. I had given in without a fight. I had missed him so much.

"...Elijah, you know that I have never expected you to marry me simply because I had Claudia."

"I want to marry you because I love you, Elena."

The utter seriousness of his voice won me over. I had loved him then and I loved him even more now.

"Then lets get married." I agreed. Tears were bright in my dark black eyes as I kissed him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

We were married in a private ceremony at home in our little court yard. Claudia was the only one in attendance. I had asked Elijah about his other siblings, however he insisted that this moment be shared by only us. I gave in, agreeing it would be best.

Elijah was not the average man about to get married after all. And I was no average woman. But I would still have this moment, and I was happy for it. Yet another dream come true despite my supernatural status.

I had my husband, and I had my child by my side. My ten-year-old daughter who looked remarkably like me at the age of seventeen, accept for those lovely blond curly ringlets and piercing eyes.

I had felt fearful for the resemblance she did have to her biological father for a long time, until Elijah told me that those lovely ringlets had come from his mother originally, and who also had the same piercing gaze. My new husband kissed me as the man pronounced us married.

Claudia said her goodbyes before heading off to Canada. This left us the chance for a brief honeymoon before we returned home.

I wondered how I would tell Alaric and Bonnie why they hadn't seen us for ten years. I wondered also how to break it to them that my little girl was no longer so little, and she was in fact a grown up hybrid like her mother, but also biologically human.

Claudia was ten years in age, however she had the complete appearance and maturity of a seventeen- year-old.

Elijah felt that Claudia could still mature yet and grow older looking than even me. I felt afraid for my girl when he talked like that, and for me. I loved that she retains a piece of humanity that was passed to her by me, but I did not want that humanity to ultimately be the cause of my losing her some day.

Would my sweet beauty die one day?

Did I endure everything that I did to only lose her someday?

I knew that death could claim even a vampire, but I could not bare the thought of my girl dying like a human.

Later we were in bed and Elijah could feel my worry for Claudia. He pulled me to his bare chest and kissed me, from my head, to my cheeks and then to my lips for a lingering kiss.

"Thank you for marrying me." He whispered softly into my hair.

I kissed his chest and then his lips. "You never have to thank me for showing that I love you." I told him with complete seriousness. "I wanted this too. I just didn't realize how much until you asked me again."

Elijah blushed, if that was even possible and held me to him again. I chuckled, so happy that I was in our bliss.

"I think we should get ready to go in the morning." He then said suddenly.

I was surprised. I had hoped for a few more days yet together, alone.

"Why the hurry? You anxious to see Alaric's face when I tell him I'm as supernatural as you can pretty much get now?" I teased, laughing. I kissed his chest again and wrapped myself around my husband.

"I think it would be best to travel quickly. Claudia is already on her way across the ocean."

"You're wonderful, you know that?" I tell him softly. Even now, he thought of my daughter above his own wants, and he thought of me and what I wanted. I wanted this time together, but my heart was with my daughter right now. She had never been far from me. I wasn't used to it and my heart pained to be near her. Elijah's did too, and I loved him even more, if that was possible.

"So we will go?" He insisted.

"Of course." I agreed.

"In the mean time..." He teased back, showing me he was thinking about this too. About us. He pushed me lightly on my back and leaned over me, smiling and happy. Before I knew it, we moved together and we were one.

"Elena will be here soon." Alaric called up the stairs to his wife.

"She's there, daddy." Jack told his father. He sounded like a child beyond his young age. Rick looked to his small son who was pointing to his baby sister who was asleep in the play pin in the living room. His dark eyes looked amused.

"Oh, I mean auntie Elena. Remember mommy talks about her sometimes?" Rick reminded his son.

The boy had recognition on his face and he smiled. His smile lit up his little face and his fathers heart. Rick bent down and picked up his son in his arms.

He still couldn't believe he was finally a father. At forty-four, he didn't move as quickly as he used too, but it was a great pleasure to force himself to keep up with his son. It wouldn't be long and his Elena would also have him on the go.

Jack was the perfect image of his mothers lovely dark skin and features. The boy was, however, cursed with his own smile and eyes. The boy was beautiful. He also had inherited his ability to get into trouble.

His Elena seemed to have deep olive skin, reminding him of her namesake. She had her mothers thick lovely dark hair and also his eyes and smile. She was going to be a beautiful young girl. He already was working out a plan to make sure the boys stayed away. For the next thirty years or so at least.

"I can't believe she's actually coming." chimed Bonnie. She hurried down the stairs and kissed him and Jack.

"You sure you don't want us guys taking a hike for awhile?" Offered Rick. He had missed Elena, but he had no interest in getting between some girly get together thing.

"She'll want to see you both. Plus, Elena won't be alone." Bonnie teased.

"Is she bringing the kid?" offered Rick curiously. He joined his wife as she busied at the counter in the kitchen. He wouldn't mind getting to see Elena's little girl again. It might be fun for Jack too to meet a new friend.

"No. Apparently she went to stay with a relative of Elijah's in Canada." Bonnie replied. She then bit into an apple and began cutting up one for Jack to eat.

"That again?" Rick scoffed. He sat Jack down on the chair at the counter and he moved to sit beside his little boy. "She's not still with that guy, is she?" Rick asked grumpily.

He had always trusted Elena's judgment, but not when it came to her choices in men. Stefan had really loved her, but it had ended in complete disaster and death. Damon had learned to really love her too, but he had been a replacement for her loss when it came down to it. Things had ended between them, but neither really stayed in direct touch with the other. There had been too much hurt and Damon had to start over again.

Then there was Elijah. The original vampire who was much older than both Damon and Stefan had been put together. He had lived for thousands of years, apparently, and yet couldn't bare to stay away from someone as young as Elena had been at the time.

Elena then vanished after dropping the bomb she had been pregnant and had a baby after a very unusual and short pregnancy. Elena swore the father had been Elijah, but Rick knew there had been much more to it. Vampires could not biologically father children, even if they were really damn old ones.

However, Rick knew that werewolf's could.

"She loves him, honey." Bonnie replied soothingly. He could never lose the fatherly protectiveness he had gained during his time as Jeremy and Elena's guardian. He worried for them both, especially Elena, and he always would.

"Besides, we shouldn't judge them too much. There's an age difference between us, remember?" She teased, kissing him, and then giving Jack the apple in a bowl.

It was true. Bonnie was barely twenty-eight and he was already into his forties.

He never thought he'd fall for such a younger woman, but he had. His first wife had been older than himself by almost three years. Jenna had been a few years younger.

Bonnie had met him again after breaking up with Jeremy and moving back home. It had taken much encouragement on her part, however eventually he had agreed to a first date, and then another.

It had been nearly a year before they started sleeping together. He had been so gun shy of having a relationship with a former student. Especially one he had taught while she had still been a teenager.

Especially considering she was Elena's good friend and Jeremy's ex-girlfriend, and he had taken the responsibility of being in a fatherly role to both her and Jeremy.

There had been no awkwardness when Jeremy discovered their relationship. He hadn't been surprised at all and had been honestly happy for them.

When Bonnie finished the last of her college courses, he had asked her to marry him. He would waste no more time getting what he wanted in life. A family and a home and a happy life.

His only regret with Jenna was that he had never been completely honest with her from the very start of their relationship. He had one other regret. They never got the shot they had deserved at being together. At sharing that home and family he had always wanted.

Jenna would have been one hell of an amazing mother.

Part of him would never stop loving her.

The other part had moved on with the amazing woman before him. She was his wife and his kids loving mother and he loved her more than anything.

He moved and kissed her hand and the door chimed.

After ten years, Elena had finally come home.

Rick moved and hugged Elena, and then Bonnie stepped forward and hugged Elena in a fierce embrace. Elijah stepped into the house after the reunion had finished.

He was dressed in a simple blue and black suit, without a tie. Elijah looked exactly like he had ten years previously. Rick knew that he always would look the same, but it unnerved him still. Elena deserved a better life. A life every girl should grow up to have.

There was something about Elena that was off. She was happy as ever, but different. She looked a bit older, but not very much. She still seemed to be so young.

Rick was happy to see Elena, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something about her. Something that was important. Elijah eyed him carefully. "Hello, Rick. Good to see you again." Elijah offered his hand and Rick shook it warily. Elijah's dangerous eyes studied him, not letting him go.

The two women had moved upstairs for Elena to meet the kids.

"Did you forget something, Rick?" Elijah's tone was cold and it told Rick he should be afraid to answer him back.

"You compelled me." Rick said automatically before he could control the thought. "Why?" Rick then said, uneasily.

He was almost afraid of the answer.

"You know something about my wife that I do not want anyone to know, Rick. It would be best that you keep trying very hard to continue not remembering that information." His tone was deadly, threatening.

"...Your wife?" Rick shot back after taking in everything that Elijah just said.

"I am only honoring the love and the relationship which I share with Elena, Rick. We've been together a decade now. It was high time that we make things more ...permanent." Elijah teased. He still sounded dangerous. "Plus it gives Elena what she has always longed for. A home and family for Claudia."

"..Who's her father?" Rick questioned. He had finally recalled what he had forgotten ten years ago when Elijah had visited him one night.

Elena was a hybrid. Like Klaus.

That meant he had turned her at some point. Again, taking her life away from her.

"Rick, to everyone in this world, Claudia is my daughter in every sense of the word. She has no father accept for myself. It would be good for you to think of that only when you feel the need to wonder about things that do not concern you, or the new family you have built here. I would hate for my lovely bride to lose yet another friend she cares for, long before his time." The last was as cold as ice. He meant everything he said.

"You're threatening me?" Rick countered, surprised, but not really.

Elijah moved closer to him, smiling, his patience gone.

"Who said anything about my keeping you silent, Rick? It would be my lovely bride that you would have to worry about the most, should the wrong persons ever learn of Claudia's existence."

Rick swallowed, uneasily. Yet another secret. All because of vampires.

If Bonnie ever found out, he would be dead before Elena or Elijah could ever do anything to him. His wife was a witch after all.

"I won't tell anyone. I care about them." Rick insisted.

He swallowed hard, trying to remember a day, long ago, where his life wasn't touched by vampires. Sadly, he could no longer remember that time in his life. It was too distant, as if some forgotten dream.

"I knew we could depend on you, Rick." Elijah replied smiling. His voice was sarcastic as it was dead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

"So how are things with you and Elijah?" asked Bonnie.

Elena placed down baby Elena to sleep for the night inside of her wooden crib. Her vampire teeth flashed brightly in the darkness of the room as she smiled down at the baby girl.

Elena lead the way from the room and stood outside the door of the bedroom. Bonnie and Rick's house reminded Elena a lot of her parents old house. It felt comfortable, like home.

"It's great with Elijah. We just got married before we came here." Elena shot back with a grin.

Bonnie frowned, not looking happy at all. "Elena, are you sure..."

Elena held up her hand, not wanting to hear it. "I've been with Elijah for ten years, Bonnie. Our relationship is the best and the longest I have ever had with anyone. It made sense, and it was long over due."

"When you left, you said he wasn't going to push for anything but your companionship." Bonnie quipped back dryly. "Instead you supposedly have his kid and show up again as his wife after a decade."

"Bonnie, it wasn't like that. I'm the one who instigated more between us. I knew what I wanted, and I wanted him. I still do. My feelings for him, my love for him, will never change. Marriage was the last possible step that we could take to make how we care about each other, how we love one another, permanent as possible."

Bonnie sighed, ready to argue again.

Elena stopped her, again.

"He's not the one who turned me."

Bonnie then stared back at Elena, stunned. "Who then..."

"Bonnie, if you ever cared about me, you'll never ask me that question again. It's too dangerous for you to know the answer to that question. You have your family to think about." Elena reminded her friend, knowing she didn't have too.

"Elena, I'm really worried about you..." Bonnie finally said after a long silence. Tears stung her eyes and Elena hugged her.

"Don't be." Elena countered through a false smile. "I'm okay. Elijah keeps us safe."

Elena pulled away and Bonnie grabbed her arm.

"Why do I feel that I'm losing you again?" Bonnie pressed sadly.

She just got her friend back. Bonnie didn't want to have to wait another ten years to see Elena. She missed her, terribly. There was so much they should have shared together. Her break up with Jeremy, her falling in love with Rick...the births of her children. Elena having her daughter...

It was all gone and all because of Elena's never ending association with the original vampire.

She was now even more tied to the original vampire, the one who had left them all to die in order to save his monster of a brother...

"I'm still here, Bonnie. We are staying awhile. Claudia is visiting Elijah's family in Canada."

"How is she? Are you home schooling her?" Bonnie then inquired, excited to hear about something positive about Elena's life.

"She's like me..." Elena trailed off. "And yes, we did home school her. She's so smart, and so beautiful. Claudia looks so much like me, accept for her hair and her eyes. Elijah says she looks like her paternal grandmother."

"...is Klaus the father, Elena?"

Elena pulled away from Bonnie on instinct and flew down the stairs in tears and out the front door.

"Elena!" shouted Bonnie. Elena, however, was long gone.

The front door then slammed open a second time, a blur could be seen following where Elena had gone.

Rick then went to the front door and locked it. He cast a worried look to his wife who stood at the top of the stairs at a loss for words.

"Elena!"

Elijah had followed Elena as far as to the park that was located across town. She was standing in front of the darken lake. The night air felt cold. She had forgotten her jacket at Rick and Bonnie's.

"..What?" Elena spat. Her voice breaking through her tears.

Bonnie was like a sister to her for years and she hated everything that was important to her. She hated that Elena was no longer human. That she would no longer have the things she did have.

And Elena hated to admit it, but so did she. She had never wanted to become a vampire, let alone both a vampire and a werewolf. And yet, here she was.

She was supposed to grow old, have a family.

Not be created into something undead and forced to breed an offspring that would be just like her.

Everything had gone wrong and it would never be right again.

She did not fit in here anymore and it hurt like hell to know that.

"Elena..."

His voice was a gentle whisper now. He reached for her and she pushed him away. It broke her heart to push him away, but right now she hated everything and everyone.

She wanted to die. Why hadn't Klaus just kill her?

"...Elijah..." Her voice called out, hurt, pained. Such never ending pain.

"Yes, love..." He spoke, obviously happy she was talking to him, but he was also afraid.

Elijah knew the day would come that she would realize that this life was caused by her old one being robbed from her like a thief in the night. And that maybe she could no longer bring herself to love a vampire who's own brother was responsible for taking that precious, human life away from her, and leaving her with his bastard as a result. And no way out. She would always be this way.

He just had no idea it would all end so soon.

Elena then turned away from the lake. Her midnight eyes lost in thick tears and seeking him with such heartbreaking pain and loneliness long lost to him. Elena, however, could bring these emotions to life within him, and he was not ready for it. It was overwhelming.

"...I ...I'm not sure I can do this anymore. I want too..." Elena trailed off, not able to say it.

"The day you kiss the sun my love is the day that I die too. Do we die today, or do we go on living?" Elijah spoke carefully, reaching for her hand in his.

"The sun can't kill you." Elena argued back. She briefly forgot the purpose of her argument.

"I hate to inform you, my love, but it can't kill you either...Remember?" He spoke teasingly, trying to break away her pain.

"...Oh..." Elena spoke as if it was an afterthought. "I keep forgetting that, sometimes." She spoke through her tears.

Elijah then pulled her against him forcefully and kissed every part of her that wasn't covered by clothing and then just held her.

"The feelings get easier ...with time." He promised.

"...I love you. I don't care what they think..." Elena cried into his chest.

"I know you do." Elijah replied. He chuckled at her ability to still give witty comments even when she was so utterly sad. "But you do care about them. That is one of the many reasons that I love you so much."

Elijah then held his wife close until the sun rises into the sky. If anything to comfort her, and to prove that she could not kill herself and leave him alone in this world.

"I think we've lost her." Bonnie told Rick the next day.

They sat at the breakfast table with Jack and little Elena, lost in thought over Elena Gilbert, who had spent the last decade living with the original vampire who had abandon them all to save his murderous brother.

"I can't get through on the phone number that she gave you." Rick admitted sadly. "I don't believe she's dealing with what happened to her very well."

"What did happen to her, Rick?" Bonnie spoke aloud. She was surprised when he could answer her.

"Klaus did..."

He couldn't lie to her. He wouldn't. Even if it killed him.

"He's the one who killed her. He changed her. He's Claudia's father."

Bonnie was devastated for her friend and at a complete loss for words. "She tried to tell me..." Bonnie admitted back. "I didn't...I didn't give her the chance. She needed to explain it to me and I kept pressing her..." Bonnie broke off, crying a little. She really hoped to see Elena again to set things right.

"Uncle Edward?"

Claudia Jennifer Gilbert Smith had entered her uncle's home in complete awe. It was an average looking home, nothing like the homes she had grown up in while living with her parents in Europe. It looked like a real family lived here. A human family.

The pictures that filled the walls ranged from several decades old to recent. There was one of a woman who reminded her of the old painting of her aunt Elizabeth, the sister that no one saw anymore. One reminded her of her grandmother.

"Hello?" She called out again. She moved her loose curly blond hair behind her ears as she stepped into the living room. It was yet another inviting, cozy room. So very normal.

"We've been expecting you, my little lovely."

Claudia turned on her heels at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, with a cry nearly escaping her. She had sensed no one near by, and she always sensed everyone. Always.

"No need to fear, Claudia." Her uncle Edward appeared beside the man she had never seen before.

"Who are you?" I insisted to the stranger. He was right there and I still couldn't sense him. It unnerved me to no end.

I could feel everything living or undead, accept him. There was just a complete blank.

The man stepped towards me until he stood right before me, revealing his true size and height. He was well over six feet, making me feel incredibly small. I was my mothers size, no more, no less.

His eyes changed from judging to warm and even kindness. "Call me Klaus." He invited. Old worldly, he kissed my hand and then released it.

Suddenly, the comforting feeling was gone and I was filled with dread. It was my fathers brother. The one they refused to talk about. The one that had caused such a big fight between my aunt Claudia and my father, I had not seen her for months. She was no longer allowed to come near me.

My own aunt. The one my parents had adored so much they named me after her.

My other name was Jennifer, after my great aunt Jenna. Gilbert was after a few members of my family, especially my grandfathers John and Grayson, and my grandmother Miranda. My grandparents had all died before I was even born.

I wore the ring my grandfather John had given my mother for remembrance purposes. It likely wouldn't help me should I ever need it for it's real purpose.

I was born human, but I wasn't just your average human you see.

I was the daughter of the doppelganger and a vampire and a werewolf.

The doppelganger line would likely end with me.

"I have been wanting to meet you for a very long time." Klaus insisted. His voice was deep, however charming. "Leave us, Edward." He then told my uncle.

My uncle, who never listened to anyone, fled the room after a last, heartbreaking look in my direction.

"Who are you?" I pressed. I was annoyed that my uncle had so easily left me alone with Klaus without any proper introductions. Edward had never even written to me that Klaus would be here on my visit.

The uncle my parents saw fit to keep me hidden from for ten years.

"Who do you think I am, little one?" Klaus shot back. A chuckle just visibly about to escape his lips.

He circled me thoughtfully before standing before me again. "You look remarkably like your mother." Klaus then noted. "But nothing of your father."

I shrank back at the last part. It was a subject that I wasn't allowed to ask too many questions about. I was slowly beginning to understand why.

"I am told I look like my mother and my paternal grandmother." I countered after a long silence.

"A little..." Klaus agreed. "However I would say you look more like me...wouldn't you agree, little one?"

Tears began to sting my eyes at the line of conversation he had started. I knew that deep down I wasn't my fathers daughter as it was impossible. Why would my uncle be suggesting that I look like him?

"I ...would say we have some resemblance." It ripped at my heart to admit it aloud. I looked like my mother, and him...there was no denying it.

"Tell me, Claudia, are you a hybrid as well?"

The tears then began to fall. How could my mother not tell me? How could my _father_... lie to me? 

"I'm also human." I admitted. There was nothing else left to lose.

Klaus then flew towards me, causing me to react on instinct. I hissed and bared my vampire teeth, my temper getting the best of me.

Klaus then chuckled, utterly delighted at my reaction.

"You are everything I ever wanted, child, and so much more." Klaus then whispered to me, fascinated. He touched my face and I snarled viciously.

"And there it is..." He told me as if confirming something I didn't understand.

He was my biological father. I could sense him now. He had been blocking me before. The werewolf side was just as powerful as the vampire within Klaus. He had no sides fighting for control over his nature. Both were in complete and utter control over him. I had three different natures fighting for surrender at all times.

The human part of me wanted to flee in terror and the werewolf half fought for freedom. I pushed out with all of my strength and I managed to push Klaus back far enough so I could escape.

I made it to the front door before I realized I couldn't exit the house. By whatever means, I was trapped.

"My apologizes, young Claudia, but I refuse to let my own daughter go without getting to know her first." Klaus whispered mere feet away from me.

"Please, what do you possibly want from me?" I pleaded tearfully. I sobbed against my hands before turning to look at him.

"I wish no harm to you, little one. I will kill any who dare try. I simply want you to know what you are. I want you to know that you do not have to hide behind your _human_ side anymore. Isn't it difficult to be three different things, all at once?"

"I don't hide from anything. My parents encourage me to embrace all parts of my heritage." I countered.

"I am your true father, lovely." Klaus corrected calmly. "Don't you ever want to know what it is like to be a true hybrid?"

"I am a hybrid..." I argued, now annoyed.

"Not while you are still partly human..." Klaus shot back. "Your nature, as it is, makes you weak. It means you can be killed. I can help you with that."

I backed away from Klaus, afraid. How could my uncle Edward abandon me here? To him?

"I don't want to die. I don't want to change what I am." I admitted, broken by fear. I longed for my father and my mother right now. I longed to hear my fathers comforting words and the love of my mothers touch and embrace.

Klaus was not my father. He couldn't be. My senses were wrong. They had to be.

"Not to worry, my lovely." Klaus replied soothingly. For a moment, I actually believed he cared about me. But only for a moment. "I will not force you. It should be your choice. But I think you need encouragement to make the right choice." His eyes then turned black and he lunged for me.

In a flash, he grabbed my bare arm and bit down, hard.

I screamed as his bite burned into my bloodstream. I fell over to the floor, I was in so much pain.

How could a hybrid bite affect me like this?

"It will eventually kill you, unless you get the blood that you need."

"What have you done to me?" I pleaded.

"I killed you." Klaus said like a promise. "But you will be reborn again, soon enough."

Klaus then gave me one last smirk before exiting from the house into the daylight.

I didn't understand and I cried until I passed out from the pain.

Elena sat up in bed with a scream ripping from her chest. She had a nightmare about Claudia. Klaus had found her and he had snapped her neck and ripped out her heart right in front of Elena. Her daughters dead eyes still haunted her.

"Love...I'm here." Elijah was instantly awakened by her scream and gathered her to him into a seated position on the bed. "What is it...?"

"We need to get to Claudia..." Elena replied helplessly.

_I only hope we're not too late._


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

We headed out of the country the next morning with no word to anyone or any goodbyes given. It was my hope to return to Mystic Falls with Claudia. Time for hiding her was over.

The plane ride was quick. We arrived to Alberta and settled into a small cottage near Edward's home. Elijah made me promise to stay behind until he found out if there was anything to actually worry about. We did not want Claudia to believe we didn't trust her off on her own. Well, at least I didn't. At this point I don't believe Elijah cared. He just wanted to know that she was safe.

The wait was long, miserable. I wanted to know where my baby was and that she was alright. I longed for the time when she had been an infant and she was dependent completely on me. That time had lasted less than four weeks.

Soon she had been a toddler and then a little girl full of vampire and werewolf abilities at her hand. She had nearly killed her first nanny when her first hunger occurred. There had been no more nannies after that incident.

Elena briefly recalled when she had allowed all of her own abilities to come forward. She had Elijah to help guide her and teach her, who to kill and when not to kill. Elena had killed a werewolf during her first hunger, however became sick on the blood she had drank. After many blood bags later, she had been alright.

It had taken her months to accept she had taken the life from that werewolf though.

Elijah had tried to instill his line of thinking upon her. It had been just a werewolf.

Her lover quickly discovered that she had a deep sense of right and wrong, and it would always be apart of her. She had never killed again in the name of the hunt, however she had killed to save her life when called for.

_When they had first left Mystic Falls and settled into a home in London, Elena had been the one to make the first move towards changing their relationship. _

_She had seen him speak with a devastatingly beautiful woman in a restaurant they had attended. They had looked close and she had kissed his cheek and then left. _

_It had been a very simple interaction that likely meant nothing, but it had made her livid with jealousy to see him that close with someone else. It made Elena realize that she had very real, deep feelings for the original vampire, and she would not share him with anyone. _

_When they arrived home, she decided to kiss him goodnight. Elijah had seemed stunned to receive her kiss, ever so softly on the lips. Her hand had lingered in his, pulling him towards the staircase, making her intentions clear. _

_Wordlessly, he had followed her, saying nothing._

_She had slowly lead the way to his bedroom, forcing the door closed behind them. Elena had then effortlessly fallen into his arms, passionately giving into what she had been desiring from him for weeks. Everything; every feel, every touch, every kiss he returned. _

_Before she could move them towards the bed, he pulled back from her abruptly, breathlessly. _

"_Elena..." Elijah breathed, barely catching a breath. "What...what are we doing?" _

"_...I thought that would be clear. I want this..." She moved towards him again and then he pulled away from her. _

"_..But...why?" He wondered aloud. He frowned at the obvious hurt his question caused her. "Elena...It's not that I'm rejecting you. Quite the opposite...however, I made it clear that I didn't expect this. This wasn't apart of our agreement."_

"_...what if I'm changing our deal..." She replied teasingly. Elena moved for him again and he used his vampire speed to move across the room from her. "Elijah...if you are not rejecting me, you might want to ..."_

"_No..." Elijah cut her off, putting up a hand. "Elena, I want to be clear. I don't expect this. I don't want you to do something you feel you need to do because I have offered you..."_

_She moved fast and then pounced, knocking him down to the bed. "It's not because you offered to take me with you..." Elena finished, quite enjoying laying on top of his tailored clothed chest. She took the moment to get as close as possible to him and she slowly kissed his lips. Her kiss brought another unexpected smile to the delightfully handsome features she was now gazing upon. "I want you..." She continued, beginning to remove that too tight shirt by pulling out the tucked in part from his pants. "...because I can't stop dreaming about this. I can't stop thinking about this since I met you..." Elena then took a moment to steal another kiss to prove her point. "...Please don't say you don't feel the same way..." She then teased with a smile, rather shyly considering how she had taken away complete control from him. When she finally began to frown, thinking she had completely misjudged his feelings for her, he took the moment to scoop her up and then bring her down on her back underneath him. _

"_There will be no going back, Elena." Elijah then warned unexpectedly, with complete seriousness. "I will not ever let you go once I have you." _

"_Is that a promise?" She then pleaded, pressing a hand to his chest. _

"_I promise.." He finished, cutting her off, his voice deep with emotion. _

Her relationship with Elijah wasn't wrong and it wasn't a lie. It was the best thing that had ever happened to Elena in her entire life, next to having Claudia. She only hoped that her family and friends would realize that one day soon.

"Edward!"

Elijah moved through the small, average house with lightening speed. He could smell blood all through the house. It reeked of it.

Some was familiar, too familiar. His blood boiled at the possibilities of what he might find. If he ever found Edward, he would kill him if any harm came to Claudia, Elena's only child. His own family, _their_ family.

It had honestly bothered him at first to learn that Elena had given birth to his own brothers offspring, result of the pain that had been brought down upon her. Then Elijah had remembered what Klaus had done to her and that none of it had been Elena's fault. He mainly had hated himself for not realizing Klaus' plans before it had been too late.

Now, he was likely too late again.

The house was bathed in blood.

_Her_ blood.

Claudia's.

Elijah was not one to usually be affected by emotion. It was all beginning to change, however, since the new changes had occurred with his relationship with Elena, and their lives together over the last ten years. He had completely, utterly had fallen deeply in love with her.

He had promised himself that after Elinor, he would never attach himself again, and so blindly, to another woman.

The loss and the pain it brought had been too overwhelming for him as an Immortal to deal with. It had haunted him for decades, until he finally taught himself how to turn it all off.

Then they had found Katerina, and he had been once again blinded. Elijah had first thought her to be the innocent that his Elinor had been, but he had been so wrong. She had ended up manipulating everyone to get what she wanted in the end. Himself included.

Then Elena happened. She was Katerina's complete and utter opposite in every way, and slowly, he had fallen in love with her. He could no longer picture his existence without her.

There had been a time he feared he had lost her to Damon Salvatore, but it turned out to be his own fault they had not gotten together sooner.

She had always wanted him, but he had left her when she had needed him the most, leaving her alone to deal with everything Klaus had done to her without him.

Elena had forgiven him long ago, but he would never forgive himself.

There was movement towards his right on the floor.

He was at her side in an instant. The strong, powerful young woman Claudia was becoming had been reduced to a limp, nearly lifeless version of her former self. Elijah could clearly see the wound she clutched to her like a dead limb while she was lost in the breathless world of agony and pain as her blood was slowly poisoned from her wound.

Klaus had done far worse in his time. Many things Elijah had born witness and even instigated, however he had to have known that Claudia was his the moment he saw her, and he had left her like this, purposely.

The precious girl Elijah had learned to love as his own child, always looked like she was born in the sun itself, now was the exact opposite of the child he had helped raise with Elena.

She was dark, she was broken, she was bleeding everywhere.

"Dad..." A weak, familiar voice managed from the pile of the girl which was in his arms. He could hear her werewolf form fighting for life. Her bones breaking and resetting themselves as the vampire side also fought for control, fought to survive against the werewolf side of her nature.

Klaus had left her in a state where all of her natures were fighting off the other, fighting for main control over her.

Clearly, Klaus had bit her, thinking the bite would kill the vampire and the human aspects of her, or it would eventually poison her as each part of her fought to survive and lost.

Either way, he'd have taken his revenge against Elena and himself.

Elijah, for taking away his play thing, and against Elena for choosing a life with his brother like Elinor had so long ago, in favor of being played with like a living doll for the rest of eternity.

"I'm here, sweet girl." I whispered soothingly. I patted her hair away from her face as more pain ripped through her body and she screamed for her mother like a small child would after having a bad nightmare.

I tried to grip her, to hold her as she fought off the pain, but she then fell limp again against me. Sweat smeared her lovely hair, mixed with blood as her bones continued to break and move.

Tears began to sting my eyes as I refused to shed them. I was at a complete loss as to what I could do. If I left to get her mother, I feared she would die before we returned.

I sensed the human side within her, dying, slipping away. Her mothers side.

My cowardly younger brother then picked the time to appear in the door way. He had the decency to look remorseful at the crushing state Klaus had left my daughter in to die. She screamed again, ripping my thoughts away from going over to my brother and ripping his heart out from his chest for what he had allowed to happen.

If she died tonight, so would he.

"Get her mother..." I snapped viciously. There wasn't much time.

Edward seemed to wake up at the sound of my voice, lost in staring at my dying child. Taking in what he had allowed to happen to save himself.

She was my child. I didn't care what Klaus thought.

I had raised her since she was a small child. She was mine. She was Elena's.

Elena.

The tears began to spill down my face as she screamed again, and my heart broke at thinking about what this was going to do to my wife.

I could still sometimes shut off the pain. Elena had never been able too. She had never wanted too either.

Elena soon appeared in the door frame, her hair flying behind her as she rushed to steal Claudia from my embrace.

"My baby..." She sobbed.

A heartbreaking, helpless cry then escaped Elena, and her eyes turned black as she cried over our daughter, holding her tightly against her.

She had so little family left.

Claudia had been her miracle from the darkest chapter of her entire life.

Elena then met my gaze, searchingly, asking for some secret hope that Claudia would be spared.

"She's dying..." I whisper, hardly being able to look my wife in the eye.

Elena gazed back at me in utter, wrenching horror at my words.

"...Please." My wife begs me.

"...I can't." I reply, helplessly.

It was all too quick. There was nothing to slow down the process.

Claudia would either die a slow, agonizing death tonight, or she would survive and become a complete hybrid, killing anything remaining that had been human within her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

It had taken three days for our Claudia to die. She had requested to spend her final hours outside, wanting to see the sun rise for the last time.

She had loved life more greatly and deeply than anyone I had ever met in my life time. Her mother had been the same, however her love for life had darken with every loss she had to endure.

This was yet another loss for my Elena, and it was her most great. She had not spoken to me since Claudia had died three mornings ago.

We had taken her to Mystic Falls by plane and had arranged for her to be buried with Elena's relatives. There were far too many to keep their daughter company. All good people who had died far too young.

I had called ahead before our arrival to let Alaric and Bonnie hear the news about Claudia. I had refused to share the specifics. Not for the fact I didn't believe they hadn't the right to know. It was because I found it too unbearable to even speak the words aloud. It was a pain that was slowly eating away at my heart and I was not ready to share it with anyone yet.

I had failed my wife in the worst possible way. I had failed to protect our family, I had failed to save our precious child from the most insidious monster, my own brother.

Alaric and Bonnie had met us at the cemetery. Damon Salvatore was even in attendance. I never blinked as my wife fell into his arms in a heap. It was the first stirring of life she had shown in days. If Damon Salvatore could somehow manage to pull my wife back from the bleak darkness which I had lost her too by his mere presence, then I would tolerate it for her sake.

Her other friends were in attendance. Matt, Caroline, Tyler...I knew them all by name, but they did not know me.

The boy, now a man, Matt...he had been my beloved's first beau, or love as my Elena called it. It was the boy she should have grown up and married, and had several children with.

But my Elena had died before the age of eighteen. Just like her predecessors before her.

She was forever frozen in the form of her twenty three year old self, choosing then to give into what she had become completely.

Elena was the reason I had spared the life of my brother Edward. She had begged me to spare his life. There was too much loss already. It wasn't what Claudia would have wanted me to do. She had said. Those were the last words she had spoken.

I then seen my wife embrace her brother Jeremy and his wife Alice. Jeremy had taken the turn at holding my wife up to steady her as she cried.

Lastly, finally, Elena searched the crowd of her family and friends who had gathered and found me with her eyes. She tried desperately to smile at me through her tears and finally I lost myself under her gaze. I wiped at my eyes and turned away to look at the distant graves.

I then felt small arms around me and she pressed herself against me from behind as if to shield me from the pain. My body trembled as the tears fell. I could not stop them.

"I love you..."

Her words saved me from my worst fears. That I had unintentionally lost the dearest, sweetest woman I had ever known in my entire existence due to my own thoughtlessness and carelessness to stop everything which had happened from occurring.

I turned in her arms and bent down and brushed my lips to hers before losing myself against her and burying my face from view within her thick dark hair. "I love you.." I said it back like a promise. I loved her, and I would not lose her like we lost our Claudia. I would not fail her again.


	6. Chapter 6

"_What have you done to her?" Pleaded Edward. _

_He found Claudia near death and at the feet of Klaus. She was dying, and this wasn't what Klaus said he was going to do. Edward moved to help Claudia and Klaus pushed him back from her. _

"_You'll not help her, or touch her." Klaus ordered. His tone was deadly. _

"_You're own daughter...why? I thought you wanted to pass on your bloodline. You do that by killing your first child?"_

"_Her mother betrayed me..." Klaus insisted angrily. _

_Edward could only stare helplessly at his brother and niece. How could his brother, who was thousands of years old, be so incredibly selfish like a young boy? _

_He'd kill his only offspring, who had actually been born a hybrid, all in order to hurt a woman he had forced into believing an incredible lie to satisfy his own self centered desires? _

"_You forced Elena to believe she was Elinor, Klaus. She never betrayed you! She escaped you, and you counter by leaving your own child for dead?" _

_Klaus seemed to actually be listening to his argument. Klaus looked back to the young woman, his daughter, who he had left screaming for help on the floor. His icy colored eyes flashed briefly with feeling, but only for a moment. _

"_No." He insisted, fighting down the remorse that threatened him like a blade. "I know what I am doing. She will survive..."_

_Klaus began walking away._

"_Brother, please, at least give her your blood...give her a chance..."_

"_I already have, my brother." Klaus moved towards Edward and slapped his shoulder before moving to leave again. "Not to worry. I have big plans for my little one." Klaus promised with a smirk before finally leaving the house and into the night._

They had buried the girl in the most obvious place. So lost they had been in their grief, they had failed to notice the barely there whisper of breathing.

Interesting. Klaus thought with a proud smirk.

It never took long for the grave digger to bring up the body. Compelling him had been too easy.

The body was brought up inside a nicely done casket made of oak. Klaus ordered the man to stay put as he lifted his daughter free from her grave. She looked like a perfect white angel who was asleep.

Soon, his daughter would awaken a full hybrid. He could already sense her, so powerful she already was. His greatest hope was that she maintain the ability to change at her will.

Everything that was human about her was gone. Her skin, once perfectly olive like her mothers, now held a distinctive gray and pale color. Her spun gold hair still shined brightly against the night sky.

He had _killed _his daughter in order to save her from the life she had been leading under the hand of Elijah and the doppelganger. Forever they had been guiding her between the world of humans and what she truly was. They were holding her back from her potential.

At the destruction of his last partner in crime, Klaus knew he no longer wanted to be alone in the world. He had appreciated having company again. Company who remained with him of their own free will.

With Claudia, he would have the opportunity to guide her in ways he never had been himself. It was cruel to give the illusion she had died as he knew one day she would find out what he had done. But it was a necessary cruelty.

With his daughter, they would rule the entire world. She would become what he had always intended for his child to be.

She would help him where others had failed.

She was awakening. Finally. He smiled and touched her face with affection.

Edward wouldn't know what hit him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

It was now a month since our daughter had died, leaving us alone in the world. I knew she really wasn't mine, but the pain was no less. Claudia would always be my daughter with Elena.

We were still in Mystic Falls, which surprised me. Usually my wife wanted to move on after a time, never wanting to stay in one place for long.

But this time was different. We were here when we lost our daughter. She had been cruelly taken down by Klaus, who never stopped until he had succeeded in getting what he had wanted for the moment.

Her parents hadn't been at her side when she had needed them the most. They had been far away from her, off in another country without her.

Elena had tried to reason that Claudia had been more than mature enough to be off on her own. Then there were the times of broken desperation where she knew it could have been different if they hadn't agreed that Claudia could visit Edward by herself.

It had left their little Claudia, off and alone, and vulnerable.

Elijah had wakened to find Elena gone from their bedroom. Her scent no longer lingered, which meant she likely had left again after he had fallen asleep.

They were staying in his house outside of town again, although Elena was rarely here with him. She took to spending most of her time with Alaric and Bonnie, or with her brother Jeremy and Alice. All four would get together once a week for dinner. It seemed to take Elena to a different time and place when she was with her human family.

Elijah knew his wife's darkest secret. He knew that Elena never wanted to become a vampire. Fate, however, seemed to have different ideas for her. Not only a vampire, she was now both a vampire and werewolf.

This seemed to be bothering his wife even more so as of late. She spent little time with him as possible, although he knew she never blamed him for how Claudia had died. His Elena also still loved him very deeply, however she was missing her old life.

Would she choose to ultimately leave him for it?

It had always been a running dark joke between them. He had always sworn should she ever choose to leave him he'd never let her go. Elijah simply loved her too much, and it had been too long since he had love in his life again. He couldn't bare the thought of losing it, of losing her.

Could he truly let her go should she choose to end their life together?

The answer to that question was no.

He dressed, lost in his thoughts of her. Then he took to staring out at the morning sun.

He knew where she had gone. To see Damon Salvatore again.

Elijah told himself he had nothing to worry about. He had her love and devotion, not Damon. There had been a very brief time where she had been with Damon after losing Stefan. He had been there for Elena when he had failed to be.

Elijah always wondered what would have happened between Elena and Damon if he had never returned to be with her.

As terrifyingly ill tempered as the older Salvatore could be, Elijah could even see the love that the younger vampire bare for his Elena. Damon Salvatore had been helplessly in love with her, and Elijah wasn't blind to the feelings that Elena had for him.

He never questioned her choice to be with him over Damon Salvatore, but perhaps it was time too.

If he pushed too far, would it cause him to ultimately lose something he knew he would never be ready to give up?

Elena never liked being told what she should do or not do, or how she should feel.

Elijah moved inside to the hall way and found the lovely wedding photo of them both she had insisted on being taken. His heart ached as if it would burst from the pain and the loss and the jealousy that had become his life over the last few weeks.

He would have to speak with her. He had to know what she was feeling.

[


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

"You came, again." Damon opened his front door, surprised to see the woman who couldn't seem to leave him alone over the last few weeks. Elena.

"I'm sorry.." Elena began hesitantly. "I...I just found my way here. I could leave..." She offered.

"Get in here already." Damon stopped her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. The contact made her gasp and she gently pulled away from him while forcing a smile to her face.

"Elena, it's not that I don't like seeing you here...It's just...well..." He trailed off while shutting the door.

"Katherine..." She offered back.

"She thinks you're making her share me. She doesn't like that." Damon chuckled.

His eyes sparkled and Elena found herself lost in a past that no longer accepted her or wanted her. It hurt to know that. Even now, ten years later, Damon still had an affect on her feelings and her heart.

"You okay?" Damon started after seeing the expression of sadness on her face.

"I ...I'm at a loss Damon. My life here, it was something that I had loved, so much. Now everything is so different. You have moved on, Bonnie, Alaric, Jeremy..you all have your own lives. I don't feel that I fit in here anymore."

"You're the one who ran off and got married to an original vampire Elena." Damon shot back. "That makes you different, it makes everything different."

"Are you happy Damon?" Elena continued. Damon blinked at the personal question.

"Where are you going with this, Elena?" Damon hit her back. "You made your choice."

"That doesn't answer me..."

"Why should I?" Damon snapped. "It's not like I can have you. You made your choice, and you didn't pick me. So I moved on, just like you wanted me too."

Elena winced at the pain in his voice. She had never wanted to hurt him, yet she did. Elena also knew she had no right to be bringing this up again, and she really had no idea why she was doing this, but she had to know how Damon really was.

After the loss of Claudia, she had to know that her remaining loved ones would survive, should she leave again.

"I'm sorry..." Elena whispered, shrugging her shoulders. "I care about you Damon..."

"Is something going on with you and Elijah...? Is that why you're talking about this?"

"Gosh, no. I just ...I miss the past. I miss when everything was alright."

Elena sat on the sofa and Damon joined her.

"You miss _her_..." Damon pressed softly.

Elena's eyes filled with tears and she began to cry. "I do...I just...I can't talk to him about this..."

Damon moved again and took her into his arms. He just held her as she continued to cry.

"You need to tell him what you've told me. You need to talk to him, Elena. You can't keep coming here, to me, for this. It's not fair...not when you know you want him and not me."

Elena pushed him away at his brutal, yet honest words. "I will always love you, Elena. But I know that it doesn't matter anymore."

Elena was speechless. Was this why she kept running back to Damon? Was she really trying to use him instead of talking to Elijah?

"Damon...I didn't mean...You do matter to me. You always will."

"I know you, Elena. You really need to go and speak to that _old_ vampire you hooked up with." Damon patted her hand.

"He was only like thirty when he was turned..." She countered, disbelieving at Damon's ability to crack a joke

"Still _way_ older than me." Damon teased with a grin.

Elena laughed. Then she knew why she was seeking out Damon so much. She missed this, their friendship.

"Thanks." She chuckled.

"You again..." Said a familiar voice.

Elena looked up to see Katherine glaring down at her from across the room.

"I was just here for a visit. He's all yours, Katherine." And Elena really meant that.

"Good! Now get out! Your own paramour was outside a few minutes ago. Thought you _should_ know." Katherine replied in a sing-song voice.

Elena said her goodbyes to Damon and then went to find Elijah. It wasn't like him to follow her somewhere and not announce himself to her.

Elijah was standing at the very end of the Salvatore drive way, his back to her.

"So you can speak to _him_, but not to me." His voice was cold, infuriated, and it shocked her.

"You take to spying on me now?" Elena countered, instantly hurt.

Her heartbreak increased upon feeling what was coming off of her husband through their bond. He was in terrible pain, and it was mixed by jealousy and confusion. Had she really done this to him? Could she be so blind?

"...I'm sorry..." Elena began instantly and moved towards him on instinct. She touched him and he moved away from her in a blur of speed. He was fifty feet from her, standing by a tree.

"Hey..." She moved towards him, choosing to walk normally. Giving him time to decide what he was going to do next. "...I'll chase you around the world if I have too, you know that." She tried to tease.

The devastated look upon his handsome face stopped her from touching him.

"Do_ I_?" He questioned, serious. "You've been shutting me out, Elena. I came here, wanting to know exactly one thing."

"What is it?"

Her voice was weak, sad. She really hadn't meant to hurt him.

"Do you still want to be with me?"

His tone was broken, utterly. No feeling at all.

Elena was stunned by the question. Had she really done that much damage to their marriage, to their lives together in such a small time? Her own husband believed he was losing her. Instantly, she rushed into his arms, and pressing herself against him. She wanted to feel his hurt and take it all away.

"Always..." She replied, crying now again.

Her heart felt like it was going to break into pieces when she realized he didn't believe her. "I know that you would never knowingly hurt me, Elena, however you have succeeded quite successfully in doing so. Do you take me for a fool or are you truly so naive?"

His tone was again closed off, however anger was getting the better of him. Elijah pushed her away gently, and again turned away from her.

"There's nothing going on between Damon and me. We're good, old friends. That's it!" Elena said, trying to defend herself against his defensive, ridged tone. "I love you, Elijah, and there's no one who I'd rather be with."

"Then why can you talk to him about what happened with Claudia and not me?" Elijah was finally looking at her again, and Elena wanted to die where she stood upon seeing the look on his face.

Guilt shamed her for reaching out to Damon instead of her husband. She robbed her own husband of being there to support her at the worst possible time in her life, and in turn she hadn't been there for him as he faced his suffering alone.

"It was easier..." Elena began honestly and then regretted her words once again. "I reached out to Damon because he was something that was familiar and I needed something that was from my past to connect with."

Elijah scowled viciously at her and Elena realized that she was again saying the wrong thing. Tears welled up in her dark eyes and she looked to the ground helplessly. She wanted more than anything to touch him and make the hurt go away, but the look on his face told her to stay away.

"You don't find it easy to talk to me, about Claudia of all things..." Elijah trailed off, and then moved right in front of her. He reached out and brushed her long hair away from her face. His touch made her gasp and hiccup the tears away. Elijah fought a gentle smile coming to his lips as he could clearly see what comfort his touch still gave her. "Don't you know how desperately and completely I am in love with you? I want to know everything that you feel, what you think, what you want...I want to know everything. Is that selfish of me? Is that too difficult to expect?"

"No." Elena admitted tearfully, before smiling. "I want all of that, and I want all of that with you. You just feel so far away from me. I don't know how to reach you anymore." Her heart was broken. She was losing him, and they were losing each other, and no third person was even an issue. Did he even see that?

"I'm here. I will always be here for you, Elena."

"But you just won't trust me...what do we have, Elijah, if you don't trust me?" Elena then grasped onto his chest and forced herself again into his arms.

"I think we are on the end of a losing battle, my love. I want to..." Elijah trailed off helplessly.

"But you can't..." Elena finished forcefully. She then pushed herself out of his arms, shaking as she cried.

"I haven't been capable of such a thing, right from the beginning. You knew that." Elijah defended himself weakly.

"I thought I was different." Elena turned to face him. "Where does this leave you and me?"

"I'm not human, Elena. I don't wish to be, either."

Elena laughed at that, disbelievingly. "What does that have to do with anything between us, Elijah? I haven't been human in ten years."

"Yet you cling to your humanity. I don't. I have never lied about what I am, Elena. What you see, is what you get. If that isn't enough anymore..."

"I just want to know that you love me." Elena broke and fell to her knees. Her sobs were breaking her. She never felt more alone than she did right then. "It's all I have ever wanted, Elijah."

Elijah was torn between shutting himself down again and leaving, and torn between picking his wife up and kissing her breathless until the sun rose in the sky. He then decided.

"I can't give into my humanity anymore, Elena." Elijah began, while he whispered in her ear now. He lifted her up and gently eased her against him and held her as close as he dared. "I have gone too long without it. I do love you. It's all that I know anymore. I don't believe I could ever stop that, even if I ever wanted too."

Elena then wrapped herself tight around him and smiled. It was enough. It was everything for her. She knew that part of Elijah would always love her, no matter how much he shut himself off from his feelings.

"Are we alright?" He had to ask. Elijah had to know if he was losing his wife.

Elena pressed her face into his strong chest, wanting to shut the question out and enjoy the moment.

"Do you trust me?" She finally replied. The tears could still be heard in her tone of voice.

"Even if it kills me." Elijah said swiftly. Her faith was again restored and Elena had hope for the first time in days.

He could only give that to her. No one else had ever come close. Elena chuckled and began pulling him down the lane.

"We could get there much faster..." Elijah offered with a smile.

"But then it would be over." Elena countered, using his words against him.

"What would be over?" He teased. Elijah gladly walked along with his wife.

"The moment, of course." Elena teased back. Her dark eyes danced, only for him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 9**

Claudia couldn't believe that her brother Elijah was still asleep. His wife, Elena, had greeted her at the front door and confirmed what she had already heard from their brother Edward.

Dimwitted, too trusting, Edward was grief-stricken by his role in their young nieces demise. Claudia, herself, was at a loss by the news.

Her niece, named for her, had always been special to her. Even when Elijah had ordered her away from them after being the one to tell young Claudia about her _Uncle _Klaus.

She cared about all of her brothers, even Elijah, who could be so set in his ways, and even Klaus, mostly for the young man she had known when they still had been so young and human. He had been good once. Dominic, their other brother, had been his best friend as a young boy. It was so difficult for her to accept, even now, how far apart her family had become.

Elena had warned her that Elijah was still upset with her about her telling young Claudia about Klaus, and that she was too, however she herself had forgiven her a long time ago.

Finally, hours had passed, and Elijah now stood before her in the living room. He was dressed in the standard style suit she had grown used to.

"Brother." Claudia greeted him. She cast her eyes and curtsied to him.

"You are very brave for coming here, and talking to _my_ wife without even approaching me _first_." His tone was deadly and Claudia briefly wondered if her elder brother would kill her for coming here.

It wasn't like she had much reason to live anyway. What she had considered to be important had been dead for thousands of lifetimes. She had spent a large part of that time in limbo thanks to Klaus.

"I mean no disrespect to Elena, or you." Claudia countered. "I heard about little Claudia..." Her voice trailed off as she recalled her pain of losing her own children. Despite how it had happened, you never got over losing a child. "I loved her, and I missed her." Claudia continued, shakily, under her brothers cold gaze. "I will always miss her."

As the tears began, Elijah crushed her to him in a fierce embrace. "Welcome back, my sister." The tone was easier, more gentle. Claudia beamed with joy to have her brothers acceptance again.

"Thank you."

Elena moved to kiss him after he shut the front door when his sister had left for the night. It had been a strained visit, however it had felt good to be speaking to his younger sister again.

"For what?" Elijah teased his wife. He pulled her against his chest and gave her a slow, passionate kiss.

Elena beamed at the touch of their lips and played with the neck line of his blue shirt. "For being so wonderful. Family is so important, and I'm happy to see you reunited with Claudia." Elena answered back with a smile.

"I have missed her, I admit it. But the family I am concerned with, is ours."

Elena frowned at that statement and pulled away from him. She had considered them to be a family with Claudia, _their_ Claudia, however that child, _their _child was dead. Were they really a family, only the two of them? Elena wanted more than anything to feel that way, but she didn't. Her baby was gone, and she would not have the chance to have another child.

She was no longer human, and she wasn't about to breed with another werewolf or Klaus again. Elijah was her love, her mate, and the only man, the only vampire she wanted. If they couldn't have a child together, it meant that she would never have another, and that was okay if it meant she had a lifetime to spend at Elijah's side. Hundreds or more, possibility.

"What do you mean?" Elena pressed uneasily.

They had been having such a happy moment. Several happy moments. Elena was tired of such loss, such darkness in her life. Couldn't he just leave the hard stuff alone until they had to face it?

"We lost our child, Elena. She was taken away from us. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get revenge for that loss."

"Find Klaus...?" Panic began to rise in her chest. Finding Klaus meant finding more hurt, more loss, and more death.

Elena had lost so much because of the ancient hybrid. She would rather flee forever instead of facing him and what he had done, again.

First Jenna, John, and her only, sweet girl. Losing Isobel had even unexpectedly hurt. She had chosen to die instead of helping Klaus hurt her again. Some part of her mother, even the vampire part, had loved her.

Elena couldn't bare to lose anyone else. Tears began to fall again at the very thought.

"I want him to pay, I do. But ...I'm so afraid." Elena confessed tearfully to her husband. "I can't lose you too."

Elijah met his wife in a fierce embrace and met her lips in attempt to take away her fears. Silently, he lead her upstairs and into their bedroom. He kicked the bedroom door shut and got lost within her touches and kisses as they made their way over to the bed in the room. He soon claimed her and made her forget the world for awhile.

–

The body broke under the hold she had of it in her arms. She sunk her teeth in deeper, smiling red as the man screamed. After she was finished, it dropped to the floor with a smack.

"Good, my little darling. You are truly finding what you really are."

Claudia beamed at the praise and then moved out the front door to the small house they were inside of in Canada. Soon she would be ready to face her uncle. She had to help protect her father, after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

Claudia kicked the body aside as she moved towards her uncle Edward's house. It had taken a day to get here, and she felt so tired, but she knew what she had to do. Klaus, her true father, had told her what needed to be done.

_Kill._

His siblings were out to kill _him_, to destroy him, because they were afraid of his new power. Power _she_ had been born with, and those who had claimed to love her had worked so carefully to hide it all from her.

She would never forgive her mother for that betrayal.

She would never forgive her for lying to her about who her father truly was.

Klaus, her _true_ father, had said that his own mother had done the same to him. Betrayal was unforgivable when it was so cruel.

Claudia smiled when she found her uncle asleep in the bedroom upstairs. A human female slept next to him. When she opened her eyes, Claudia killed her with one touch of her hand. There was nothing left on the bed but a smear of red where she had laid.

She then moved to her uncle and went for the heart like her true father had taught her.

His eyes snapped open and the scream died in his mouth. "Why?" Edward had managed, weakly.

"Because you are _weak_ and a threat to _me_ and what _I am_."

It was the words her father, her true father, had drilled into her. Words she could never forget. Over and over, they repeated inside of her mind.

Without thinking, she finished what she had come here to do, and the original vampire was soon dead, and _without_ his heart.

"You have to go for the head, little one, or he might come _back_."

Her true father stepped forward from the shadows with a smile and slammed his fist into his brothers face, which knocked the head loose.

"There, you see." Klaus offered. "That is how it's done."

Claudia blinked suddenly, feeling dizzy. "Where...where am _I_?" She asked weakly, fighting to stand.

Klaus then grabbed her arm before she could move, before she could think.

"We have to complete _our_ mission." He told his daughter, his words so carefully spoken. "Do you understand me?"

"Of course..." Claudia's shining eyes blinked in her understanding. Her last thoughts which were her own before he finished speaking were that he was compelling me again.

"I want to go to Mystic Falls before we go." Elena told her husband over their breakfast which they took in the old courtyard behind their house that morning.

Elijah blinked in surprise. They truly had no reason to delay any more. Elena had already spoken to all those she cared about. Even Damon Salvatore. Did she really not want to do this? Or did she simply not want to leave with him again?

It hurt knowing either could be true.

"Why would we go back there? It's not like we would be away, forever, Elena."

Elena sighed, tiredly. She wanted to say goodbye to her friends and her family. It had been ten years since she had last seen them. She didn't want to return again just in time to see Bonnie and Alaric's kids graduate high school. Elena wanted to be apart of their lives, always. Not every decade or so.

"_Please_, Elijah.."

"If you do this," Elijah began impatiently. "I will leave without you. I want this finished! I want Klaus to pay for what he has done. If you don't want to help me, to hell with you!" Elijah then slammed down his drinking glass, spilling the blood as it shattered. He then vanished inside the house in a blur.

He had enough of his wife clinging to a past that was no longer her own. It was a past she had lost ten years before when Klaus had killed her. Elena Gilbert of ten years ago was dead. Her family and her friends had moved on without her.

Not even Damon Salvatore had wanted her anymore. He would not be second to all of that, to a life that no longer wanted her or welcomed her.

He wanted revenge of Klaus for destroying all of that for his Elena. For killing the only child she would ever have.

And for the disastrous beginning they had to their own relationship thanks to his brothers interference. It still haunted them to this day, and Elena wanted to ignore it. All of it.

Elijah couldn't do that. When Elena did not follow after him, he quickly packed a few things and left their home of the past several months.

He would first try and locate Claudia, his sister, to see if she could watch over Elena for him while he was gone. Then he would search for Edward and learn why he had chosen to betray them. And then hopefully find out what Klaus had planned next.

What happened with Elena, would have to wait. Young Claudia could no longer come second to this life she refused to leave behind her.

He had to find Edward. Elijah could sense how strongly important it was that he find his brother. He couldn't explain it, but he knew that he had to find him, and quickly.

Once he discovered where Klaus was, he would find Elena, and hopefully she would forgive him for blowing up at her like he did.

It was out of his love for her and the frustration he felt about where they were going as a couple. Elijah passionately loved his wife, however he sensed her moving towards her past, more and more, and that meant she was moving away from him. As a vampire, as a very ancient vampire, he could no longer afford to do that. And he could no longer afford to wait. He simply did not have the patience to live like a human anymore, although it was exactly what his wife seemingly wanted to do with her existence.

He loved her, and Elijah knew that Elena returned that love for him just as intensely and fiercely. But was it enough if they could not agree on anything?

Maybe they were not meant to be together after all.

His thoughts haunted him as he went to find his sister.

Elena once again found herself on the doorstep of the Salvatore house. The tears would no longer fall and she was so tired of the arguing she had been doing with Elijah lately.

They were both still recovering from the loss of their Claudia, however the fighting was getting to be too much. Just when she thought they were past it, something always happened to set them back.

The door opened again, and there was Damon.

"You again...you can't get enough of me, can you?" Damon teased with a seductive grin. He frowned upon seeing the tears. She was always crying lately it seemed.

"What is it?" Damon then questioned seriously as Elena sniffled some more.

"He left me, Damon." Elena admitted between sobs. "Elijah went to find Klaus. I'm so afraid." 

Damon let out a sigh and knew what he had to do to help his friend. He offered his arms and she gladly accepted. She held onto him tightly as she cried.

"I shouldn't have come here, again. I'm so sorry." Elena then replied suddenly, gently pushing him away.

"You shouldn't have. Running to your ex all the time must be making that original husband of yours a little crazy." The sarcasm was still there, but the point held true.

Elena had screwed up with Elijah again. And again, after hurting him so much the last time by doing it, she had again run to Damon to hear her out.

"And Katherine must really hate me." Elena breathed aloud after too long a silence.

"Yes." Damon agreed. "But it really doesn't matter anymore. We decided to part ways. Katherine was getting bored of Mystic Falls and of me worrying about you so much."

"Damon, I'm so sorry..." Elena winced.

"I'm sure we'll pop up in each others lives again someday." Damon added thoughtfully. "But this time was more about what happened with Stefan than anything. I think we're both ready to move on now."

Elena felt more tears at the mention of her long dead love. It had been ten years, but it still hurt to remember how it all had fallen apart for them.

Damon touched her shoulder. "Stop living in the past, Elena. Stefan, the one we knew, wouldn't have wanted this for you. You need to stop grieving for him and accept your life as it is."

"I just miss him. Maybe it's why I have been clinging to this place so much."

"The Stefan you miss is long dead, Elena. Move on..."

Elena nodded her head and then hugged Damon. "Thank you, Damon. Now I need to find my husband."

"No problem. And Elena..."

Elena turned back around to face him as she moved to leave.

"Yeah?"

"If it happens to fall part, you know where to find me..." Damon trailed off with his offer.

Elena chuckled. "I know you'll always be there for me." She offered back. Then she was gone into the night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

Elijah had arrived to his brothers house in Canada with a sense of wariness and alertness he hadn't quite felt in some time.

This reminded him too much of the past. The smell of blood was in the air, thick and moist. He broke off the front door with one strike and entered completely into the house. Elijah soon found himself in the living room.

The furniture was broken, yet Elijah knew there had been no struggle in the room. "Edward!" He shouted aloud after too long a silence. No answer came.

Elijah moved for the stairs and he then felt something heavy collide with his chest before vanishing in a blur out the front door. The smell of the vampire who had struck him was familiar and unmistakeable.

It was a scent he could clearly remember as it belonged to the young vampire and werewolf child he had raised up and had been proud to call his daughter. _Claudia. _

Elijah, overwhelmed, fell to the floor at the foot of the stairs. His daughter was alive, and she had fled the scene with no hesitation at coming across his path. "Claudia.." He whispered inaudibly.

Elijah's attention was quickly snapped back to the present when he realized there was one more inside the house besides himself.

At the top of the stairs stood Klaus. He was dressed in a blue dress shirt and black pants which bore dried blood. Snarling, Elijah lunged up the stairs in a gust of wind and collided with his brother who slammed into the wall at the top of the staircase.

Laughing, Klaus allowed him to remain holding his neck in a crushing grip to the average vampire, however he was no average vampire. Elijah no longer cared what the risks were. Klaus had to pay!

"You took her away from us...you allowed us to believe she was dead...we _buried her_, Nicklaus!" Hissed Elijah furiously. "What did you do to her?"

Klaus abruptly stopped laughing, clearly annoyed and impatient now. He gripped at Elijah's hands and forced his brother to release him before sending Elijah down the stairs. Elijah was quick to his feet and Klaus was before him before he could blink.

"You dare to question me!" Growled Klaus in return. "I only reclaimed what was rightfully mine! You are the one who took her away from me, if you recall, dear brother. I am now teaching her to become what she was born to be. Claudia is very much content in remaining with her true father. Her sweet mother, of course, is always welcome to join us." Klaus then added teasingly. "How is my former betroth these days, anyway?"

"You forced her to be with you, Nicklaus. What you shared, wasn't real. History will not repeat itself where Elena is concerned..." Elijah trailed off, his warning clear.

Klaus only smiled as Elijah failed to notice they were again joined in the room by the one who had fled only moments before. Claudia was able to pick up something heavy and connect it with Elijah's skull without the original noticing her. She then watched her stepfather fall to the floor with a look of confusion upon his face before passing out entirely.

* * *

><p>Elena had found Edward's house in Canada and arrived a good day behind Elijah. The house was dark, yet Elena could clearly hear voices from inside the structure. They were angry, livid.<p>

Elena reached out and could sense that Elijah was somewhere close by. She reached out with her werewolf senses and could pick up on his scent. Elena moved towards the front door and before she could get close she was confronted by a large, black fury wolf. There was no mistake as to who had found her. Of who had found _them_.

Elena tried to not shake with fear. Suddenly she felt very alone.

"Klaus..." She whispered. Her voice tight.

The wolf then merged before her dark eyes into his familiar shape of a man and vampire. Klaus, naked as the day he was born thousands of years ago, smiled at her. "Hello, my sweetheart." He said. "I've been waiting a very long time to see you again."


	12. Chapter 12

Elijah spit out blood as the light in the room became brighter. He was no longer alone in the room where Klaus had his witch pin him to the wall of the second bedroom upstairs inside the house with a spell he had never heard spoken before in his life time. The witch had spoken a language that had reminded him slightly of french, but it had been something entirely different.

Elijah then forced himself to focus on who was with him inside the bedroom. Towards the bed, there sat a small woman who looked all too familiar, so much that it hurt. After all, he was married to her doppelganger. His Elena who he had abandon for his own sense of revenge, without giving her feelings any consideration at all. Elijah had no greater regret.

"_Katerina_, I thought you would have had the sense to remain hidden from my brother after your escape the last time in Mystic Falls." Elijah scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Klaus came and took me from Damon's. He compelled me to go with him. Klaus said he had plans for me. He thought I might be useful to his witch in drawing Elena out."

"What.." Elijah trailed of, suddenly out of fear for his wife.

"Something about being of the same blood and all that." Katherine went on.

"What have you done to Elena?" Snarled Elijah from his place on the wall.

"Hey," snapped Katherine suddenly, still sitting on the bed. "Be nice. I'm not the one that let himself get magically pinned to the wall by one _pissed off little witch_." smirked Katherine. "I was never used in finding Elena, Elijah. She followed you here all on _her own_. Klaus is outside with her now."

"Where's that witch, Katerina?"

Katherine frowned at the original vampires question. "She's down stairs. I'm not helping you kill her. I already drained her daughter dry when I arrived when I tried to escape, so she pretty much hates me right now.

"If you don't get her here in this room, I will kill you as soon as I'm free." Elijah promised with a look of hatred.

"You'd never hurt me. You've had five hundred years to kill me, Elijah, if you had really wanted too. You saw me that night in the woods, but you had let me run anyway." Katherine now stood to her feet, smug.

"I wouldn't presume that it meant anything on _my part_, _Katerina_. I did care for you, once, however any feeling I had for you died when you decided to let my brother pursue you instead. And we know how that turned out, don't we? I understand that he let your father die by his own sword and pinned his body to your front door, did he _not_?" Elijah teased mockingly. "As I recall, that had been my idea."

Katherine cried out in rage, but did not attack him, to her benefit. "How dare you..."

"Get me that witch, _Katerina_, or I will make what happened to your beloved papa seem like a walk through a park."

Katherine cried out again, enraged, but then was gone in a blur.

Elijah could sense Elena near by. He had to find her before Klaus could do anything to her. Elijah only hoped that the witch was quick.

* * *

><p>"If you agree to remain with us, Elena, I will be most kind to you and I will even let my brother go free and unharmed." Klaus offered quickly. He seen the hesitation in her step and her eyes were wild and searching for an escape.<p>

More than anything, he still wanted her. She belonged to him. It was sealed when they had mated years ago, and was even more true now with the existence of their daughter. He could feel it to his bones and so could she.

"I'll never agree to be with you, Klaus. You tried to kill me before, remember?"

"Not kill, love. I had only wanted to show you who you really are." Klaus began to circle in. She stepped further back on instinct.

"I'll never be her. I'm not Elinor. And I'm not Katherine." Elena wanted to move towards the house, but never dared to move.

"I have her, though. She's not dead."

"What...What are you talking about?" Elena felt herself getting annoyed and confused.

"Our daughter, Elena. I bit her and she survived. You buried a living corpse."

Elena could only stare in horror at Klaus. She wanted to call him a liar, but she could feel the truth behind his words. Could Claudia still really be alive?

"Don't do this...please..." Elena begged tearfully. "If you have her, please just let her go."

"If you come with me, now. I will let her go. On one condition, love."

"...What do I have to do?" Elena asked, defeated.

"Come with me, be with me of your own free will. And I will never bother our dear Claudia, ever again."

Klaus offered his hand out to her with a smirk. He had won, and he knew it.

"...I have a condition." Elena then countered after a minute.

"Anything for you, love." Klaus replied. He wasn't surprised. She was quick to think on her feet and she always would be.

"You have to leave Elijah alone too."

"If you agree to that too, of course." Klaus countered with a grin. "If you become mine, my little Elena, you may never see my dear brother again."

With a feeling mixed of heartbreak and pain, Elena shook on their agreement. She would do anything to protect Elijah and save her daughter from this creature before her. Even give them up forever.

"..._Elena_..." screamed Elijah from the door frame that lead into the house. He still couldn't leave the house. The witch must have spelled the door closed from the inside for vampires. ".._No!_"

Elena looked back into the dark eyes of her husband and shook her head sorrowfully. "I'm sorry." She replied back. Within the time of an eye blink, she had vanished into the night with Klaus.


	13. Chapter 13

**Part 13**

They had traveled for hours it seemed. Elena had willingly left Elijah behind her at the house in Canada on the promise that she would be reunited with her daughter again, and that Klaus had agreed to leave her husband alone forever.

With Klaus, Elena could help protect her daughter from his influence. And maybe even encourage her to escape him and the hold he had on her.

To Elena's shock, Klaus had guided them all the way back to Mystic Falls. No.

"What are we doing here? Isn't enough that I have given up Elijah?" Elena insisted, furious that she had been so foolish to fall into Klaus' games again.

He had manipulated her, again.

"I'm not here to hurt your family, Elena. I am here to keep my word."

Suddenly, by the lake, they were joined by a most familiar face.

"Mother?"

Elena turned around to see Claudia, her baby girl, before her. She was her complete reflection, but for the hair and her bright eyes. The eyes of her daughter were no longer so bright. They were black. A brilliant black. The look upon the features of the once warm and loving face which belonged to her daughter, now appeared cold and dead.

Her daughter, in some form, may still be alive, however what ever had been human about her was very dead. She was a complete hybrid, just like Klaus. And just as soulless.

And then Elena noticed the blood on her clothes.

Claudia beamed, smugly.

"I found where you used to live, mother." She replied teasingly. "I think I met Uncle Jeremy...his wife was simply ...tasty."

"...No." Elena began shaking her head in fear. "...Don't tell me...please..." Elena then begged. Elena then turned to Klaus, her eyes flashing. "What have you done to her?"

"I have shown her what it means to be a vampire and a _werewolf_, my dear sweetheart." Klaus answered, soothingly. "Here, I will make it all better." He then offered.

"..No..." Elena began, but she was too late.

Klaus was before Claudia, grasping her face, hard with his hands, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"We are done here. You will never look for me or your mother again."

Elena began to relax, relived Klaus was letting her go. But then her relief then turned to terror.

"...I want you to go back to Elijah and make him kill you. Leave, now!"

Claudia was then gone in a flash and Elena began to scream her daughters name, over and over. Elena then fell to the ground, sobbing brokenly. She could not leave Klaus, or he'd kill her entire family. That was if they weren't dead already.

"You should have never chosen him over me." Klaus then snarled above her. "You should have never allowed him to raise _my child. _Now you must be reminded of your mistakes." He then scolded.

Klaus then walked off towards the lake, happily awaiting dawn.

* * *

><p>Elijah was free of the house and he could no longer sense his wife's presence anywhere near by. She had left him to be with Klaus, believing it was the only way to save him. Elijah guessed that Klaus told Elena that Claudia, their daughter, still lived. It was the only other reason why Elena would have left him to be with Klaus.<p>

Where they could have gone too?

Mystic Falls was the only logical choice. Klaus would want to kill Elena's family to make an example out of her for leaving him years ago and raising their child without him. Klaus would not accept that the relationship he had with Elena had never been real. He had made her to be nothing more than a living doll of a woman he had loved once, far too many years ago to count. And he had done so to hurt him. Elijah.

Without any hesitation, Elijah left for Mystic Falls.

* * *

><p>Elijah arrived hours later to his destination. He was standing at the front door of Jeremy and Alice Gilbert's recently purchased new house. Elijah could sense them from outside the house. They were asleep in their bed.<p>

Elijah then felt the presence of another. A vicious, cunning predator. Elijah wasn't surprised when he turned around to face the street and could clearly see Claudia standing there by the tree on the street. She was like a twisted looking version of his dear wife. The same, nearly exactly, but for the hair and eyes.

Once a lovely color, her eyes were black now. She was more werewolf than anything despite the color of her eyes.

"Klaus has made you into a weaker version of himself. Can't you feel it, Claudia?"

The girl, teenager in appearance, seemed annoyed by his words as if she didn't understand them. It was then that Elijah knew the extent of the damage that his brother had done to the girl before him. Before him was a deadly, dangerous, feral hybrid. And she was here to kill him.

Her white teeth gleamed as she hissed and hurried towards him, intent to kill. Elijah caught her in his arms and fell backwards as he could not even hold her back. Claudia had the strength of an original equaled with Klaus' viciousness.

The teeth drove their way home and Elijah began to feel everything slip away. He could not bring any harm to her, he would not. She was his own daughter as much as she belonged to her mother. The daughter and family he had never allowed himself to dream about. Any hope of a life like that had died with his mortal wife, so many life times ago.

Then Elena and himself had found each other, and despite how Claudia came into existence, they had become a family.

If he was going to die today, then so be it.

Perhaps Elena would be able to save Claudia where he had failed.

"Stop!" Came a startled, frightened cry.

"Elena..?" He choked out, blood sputtering out of his mouth.

How had she found them?

Surely Klaus would never let her go once he had her again.

Before Elijah could think of anything else, he could hear another cry and what sounded like wolfs growling in the distance. Elena then was standing over him. His sweet Elena. His love. Was he truly dying and was granted this last gift?

"Oh, it's so..." She trailed off, worried. Elena then grasped his form, waist up from the ground, and then took him into her arms. She was crying, shaking. Elijah felt her worry and wanted to tell her so, but he couldn't speak. "Drink my blood." She then offered her wrist and he drank.

Slowly, Elijah felt the wounds at his neck closing, but there was still something else wrong. There was something that lingered in his system. The bites, he guessed, they had been filled with Claudia's werewolf venom.

He was now healed, but slowly dying.

"How could I have been so ridiculously stupid to leave your side? " Elijah whispered softly to his wife who beamed happily down at him through her tears.

"It's okay. You're okay." Elena offered back with a sad smile.

"How did you get away from my brother?"

"I didn't give him much of a choice." Elena admitted with a chuckle. "As soon as I sensed you were close by, and there was trouble, I ran here."

"He'll be here soon then." Elijah then replied. "We must go, now."

"What happened with Claudia?" Elijah then asked after realizing Claudia was no where near by as he stood up with Elena's help.

"I pushed her off of you and then she ran away. We can start looking for her in the morning. She'll be returning to Klaus."

Elijah then stopped and moved to lean on the tree. He could hear an owl in the distance. He took a moment to enjoy the sight of his wife. She was so beautiful, standing there, despite her despair. It broke something deep within him to know she was hurting and he couldn't take it away to make her better. How he had missed her and it had only been a few days. A terrible, horrifying few days.

"I need to tell you something else..." Elijah began before Elena could move away from him.

"What is it?" She whispered. Again, he saw the despair.

"Claudia bit me...the blood never healed the venom."

"What...?" Elena spoke. Suddenly, wildly desperate. "But how is that possible? You're an original vampire... You can't be dying..." She argued. Then she gasped when she met my eyes and knew that it was indeed possible.

"It depends all on what Klaus has done to change Claudia."

"We just need his blood then, then it will heal you." Elena then offered simply.

"No. Klaus will do nothing to try and stop this, Elena. He has never forgiven me for coming between what he felt was his chance with you. He wants me dead. Klaus will likely strike again for you running away from him, and to me."

Elena looked like she was trying to think their way out of this. But there was no way.

"I'll go back. I'll get his blood." She then offered again.

"No. It's far too dangerous. He'll never agree to a deal, Elena. Klaus will only use you to his advantage to get what he wants."

"Then I'll kill him." Elena then said, dangerously.

Elijah then fought back a smile and then reached for her hand. "You'll not succeed, love. He's much too strong. I must go and face him."

"No." Elena then cried. She grabbed at his coat and fell against his chest. Elijah held her close, gladly. "I can't lose you too." She then whispered.

"If I don't, he'll never stop. He'll go after your family, Elena. Alaric, Bonnie, Jeremy...they're all at risk here as well."

"...I ..." Elena then pushed away, fighting not to break down again.

"Please...what can I do..." Elena then begged.

"Stay here. Watch out for your family, love. I'll watch out for ours."

Elena then rushed into his arms again and forced him into a desperate kiss. "Come back for me...please." She finished.

"I will always find my way back to you." Elijah replied back, gently.

He touched her hair and then kissed the top of her head. When she opened her eyes, Elijah was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Part 14**

Claudia ran to her father, Klaus, who she found on the outskirts of the city. It was a heavily wooded area and not far from the highway into Mystic Falls. It was getting to be near dawn, and the sun kissed her face. It brought back a memory of her mother chasing her through a courtyard in England when she had been just a year old. There had been laughing and hugs and the unquestionable warmth of her love.

Claudia could still feel that memory as if it had just happened today. How she longed for such simplicity right now. A life where her mama took care of everything for her and she never had a care in the world. Tears welled up into her dark eyes as she took in the complete opposite presence of the one who was her true father. Klaus was the exact opposite of everything she had ever been taught to know in this life. He knew no care, but he also knew no love.

Klaus had used those she cared about, those she had loved, in order to make her into a tool for him to use. He had played on her feelings. Klaus had convinced her that her mother had lied to her and did not care. He had convinced her that Elijah never really loved her as his daughter. He only said that to please her mother who still insisted clinging to her humanity. But it was Klaus who had been really lying to her all along.

Her mother loved her more than anything. Elijah had risked his life to save her. So had her mother.

And Claudia had betrayed them both all for a father who wanted to use her to kill those closest to her. First her Uncle Edward, his mortal wife, and then he made her go after Elijah.

Claudia wanted to die where she stood. The tears flowed freely down her face. She no longer had any control over her own mind and she never would while with Klaus.

"My own daughter..." Klaus began. He stalked towards her like the wolf he was. "You couldn't even get one single order right..."

"Elijah's okay?"

Claudia seems surprised to hear herself speak. It had been so long since she heard the sound of her own voice.

"You can send him your regrets yourself." Klaus sneered viciously.

The shock at hearing Elijah's was dead never had the time to even register for Claudia before Klaus pulled out a knife from his jacket sleeve and stabbed her right threw the heart. She recognized it. It was the only weapon that could kill an original vampire. But she was more than a vampire and he knew it. Claudia fell to her knee's and screamed out in pain.

Claudia looked up to see another weapon in his hands. It looked like she was going to die today after all. Klaus now had a silver sword in his hands. Perhaps she would have the chance to apologize to Elijah after all, even if it was in death.

"This was the last thing that I wanted to do. But you leave me with no choice. Your mother left me with no choice."

The sword raised high and Claudia closed her eyes. She almost swears that she could hear her mother from the courtyard in her memory telling her to close her eyes and count to three. Claudia feels the touch of her mothers lips to her chubby childish cheeks and feels her mothers arms around her. She is safe. Her eyes then open to the reality before her because the dream is over.

* * *

><p>In the distance, a mother falls to her knee's and weeps for the lost little girl in the courtyard. Because she isn't there anymore with her. She is gone.<p>

* * *

><p>Klaus finished with the sword and wiped his face clean. Finally, it is done. His revenge was complete. This would hurt them both. It would destroy them both. It was worth it.<p>

He dares himself to look at what he has done and stops to really look at the broken body at his feet. But for the golden hair and eyes, she had looked just like her mother. The same sweet face and innocence on her sleeve. A different memory then surfaces. One of another young woman from his memory. The same golden hair and eyes. She is laughing and smiling at her little golden boy in her arms.

"_Nicklaus, I told you not to run into the woods. The soldiers could find you there." _

_The small boy looks up at his mother and laughs. "I'm not afraid, mama." _

_His mother then bends down to him and very seriously tells him that not all soldiers are good who walk in the woods. "You have to watch out for the ones who walk at night." She had said. "You cannot trust them, my darling. Promise me, you won't go alone. Always take Elijah with you. He'll watch out for you, my darling."_

"_I promise, mama." Nicklaus then accepts another hug and smiles into golden curls that matched his own._

Klaus then drops the sword as if it cut him and shouts blindly into the night. For a moment, he hates what he has done. He looks around and is surprised to see his brother there.

Elijah walks over to the broken body of Claudia and looks down at her with such pain and sorrow that Klaus cannot help but cling to that memory of the other woman with golden hair whom they had both loved once.

"How could you do it, brother..." Elijah almost said like a plea. "Your own daughter..."

"You forced my hand!" Klaus argues defensively.

Tears sting Klaus' cold eyes and Elijah seems stunned to see them there. How could there be anything human left inside the monster who killed his daughter?

"You murdered your own daughter in cold blood because your hatred of me is so great. She was completely helpless against your abilities and you killed her. She never even had a chance."

"Don't..." Klaus backs away from his brother and his words as if he was stung by them.

"Look what you have done..." Elijah insists. He grabs Klaus and makes him look at the broken form. "I cannot fix this one for you, Nicklaus. But you will pay, dear brother..."

Elijah then forcefully presses his vampire fangs into the neck of his brother and drinks greedily. He drinks long past the point he has too, but cannot stop until he feels the lifeless form in his arms. He drops his brothers body after feeling no signs of life, but knows it won't stop there. He has to do one other step to ensure his brother will not return and regenerate.

Elijah takes the sword into his hands. The one which killed Claudia mere moments before. He uses it to take off his brothers head, and then goes for the heart. Klaus is dead. Finally.

If only he had arrived in time to save Claudia. How could he tell Elena he had missed the opportunity to save her by mere minutes? His love would never forgive him. How could she?

Elijah took the time to bury Claudia once again at the Gilbert family plot. She would be in good company. He had one of his people dispose of Klaus elsewhere.

Dawn had finally arrived. But there would be no good future for him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Part 15**

Elena Gilbert had lost many people in her life who she has cared about. First, it had begun with the only parents she had ever known, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert. They had taken her as their own child, and adopted her. They had given her a home, and a family, and a life worth living.

Then came along Jenna when fate had other ideas and had taken away the only parents Elena had ever known from her. Jenna had stepped forward to take care of Elena and her little brother when no one else wanted too. Jenna would always be someone that Elena would remember fondly for that unselfish sacrifice. Jenna had chosen to love her sisters children as if they were her own and she had ultimately died for it. John, her fathers dimwitted younger brother had turned out to be her biological father, and he too paid the price for trying to care about her. Uncle John was dead, and with him any promise of what might have been. Elena knew that her biological father had even ultimately loved her in the end too.

He had sacrificed unselfishly for her twice after all. After Elena had the time to think about everything, John had indeed proven himself twice. Once by giving her up to his brother when she had been a baby and walking away. That choice had given her the best parents she could have ever hoped for. Secondly, John had sacrificed his own life so she could continue on having one.

Regretfully, even that choice he had made had not saved her from eventually becoming a vampire. She wondered what John would have thought of his daughter becoming a hybrid. The smile died to her lips as she moved to stand over the spot where her own daughter now lay buried. Once again, buried with John and Jenna, however very dead this time. There would be no second service. Her daughter was already buried after all. The cemetery was very quiet, so much that Elena wanted to scream. Hot tears broke free again, this time tears of blood. Tears for the deaths of all those lost and how she would not be joining them anytime soon.

In the distance, she could feel him watching her. Elijah had chosen to stay back. He had kept at a distance since telling her what she had already known. Their dear little Claudia was dead. He had been too late to save her. Klaus had succeeded with his final goal before his own death. A goal that would give Elena an eternity of misery as she was left to grieve for her daughter forever.

Elijah.

She longed to feel his arms around her and hear his words of love. No one could give her comfort like he could. But at the same time, her skin crawled at the thought of him ever touching her again. He had been there, but he had been too late. Claudia was dead because Elijah had been too late.

Elena knew how very unfair it was to hold that over her husband, but she couldn't help it. The mother inside her cried out, bitterly, for her lost child. She hated herself most of all for not doing something differently. Something that might have saved her sweet daughter from her fate. Elena dared herself to look back and that made Elijah come forward. Hesitantly, he stood beside her now. Unsure of what to say, or what to do.

"Elena..." His voice sounded broken, pained. The sound shocked her from her own grief. It made Elena turn around and really look at him. Their eyes connected and Elena felt herself begin to cry again. "Elijah...I'm so sorry..."

She then fell into his arms and refused to let him go. "I was wrong to think...I'm so sorry. I know you loved her too.."

"I love you, Elena. We're going to survive this. I promise!"

Elijah pulled his wife closer and kissed her briefly. "I'm here for you, and this is all finally over."

Elena buried herself against her husband's chest and let herself cry for the daughter they had lost. Again.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Four years later...<strong>_

Elena couldn't believe it. She was finally leaving Mystic Falls again.

She had the time to enjoy spending time with Bonnie and Alaric, and their two children. Jack was six- years-old, and young Elena was enjoying being a four-year-old. Alaric was the most fantastic father to their kids, and Bonnie would teach them how to be so smart and strong like her.

Jeremy and Alice had their first child two years ago. They had a boy named John Grayson Gilbert. Elena had asked her brother why he had chosen to name his son for her father. Jeremy had surprised her when he said he wanted his son to know the uncle that had sacrificed his own life to save his daughter. Without that sacrifice, he would have lost a sister. Elena never had the heart to tell him in a way John's sacrifice had been for nothing. She still died. She had been dead for over fourteen years.

Elena had said goodbye to everyone and had promised to return, soon.

Elijah was taking her to a resort in Paris. Then, he wanted to settle in England again. His sister, Matilda, apparently was living there now. Elena had only met her once, briefly, about seven years ago.

Elena was about to leave the living room of the average looking house that Elijah had purchased a few years ago for them when a familiar figure had joined her in the living room from the open window.

Damon.

"I didn't think I'd see you again."

"I had to say goodbye to my favorite little _doppelganger_."

Elena had to smile. She secretly enjoyed it when Damon had teased her, no matter how corny the teasing was.

"I'll be back here, again, Damon. Plus, we still have eternity to run into each other." She offered with a grin.

"True," Damon had agreed. "But you said that before, and it was ten years before I seen you again."

"Coming back here is never easy for me. You know that."

"Can I get a hug?"

Damon then outstretched his arms and Elena stepped into them with another smile to her face. She patted his back in a sisterly way and then let him go. "I'm going to miss your sarcasm, Damon."

"I'm going to just miss you." He countered back. His tone was uneasy. Damon still had problems expressing himself. Even after all this time.

Elena gave him a guilty look. Elena would never love Damon like he had wanted her too. Elijah was the one she loved more than anything, and she could never be without him now. Elena had been in love before. Stefan would always be her first love. He had died protecting her by giving himself to Klaus. Elena would always remember his sacrifice. But the one she was meant to be with was Elijah.

Elena would always love Damon, but her feelings for him had never been romantic. He was her crazy, impulsive best friend. It had taken Elena a long time to realize that her feelings for him would never be anything greater than what they were now.

"I will miss you, Damon." Elena offered back. "But you won't be alone. I hear that Katherine has returned."

"Yeah," Damon agreed with a slight smile. He'd never admit it to her, but Damon was in love with Katherine. He always would be. "We might get back together. Again." Damon teased.

"Good. You'll be happy, Damon. I know it."

Elena then vanished from the living room when he turned away. She would not say goodbye to Damon. It hurt too much to think she might not see him again for quite awhile.

* * *

><p>Elena found her husband at the airport. He had decided to meet her there upon hearing Damon enter their home. Elijah had come to tolerate her friendship with Damon, knowing that despite how Damon may feel about her, his feelings would never be returned. Elena loved himself, and no third person.<p>

"I missed you." Elijah said.

He reached out to her and took her hands in his before kissing her. Elijah then pulled Elena closer and held her tightly a few moments before letting her go.

"What was that for?" She teased.

"I won't get to hold you like I want to on the plane, so this will have to do until we land."

Elijah's honesty made Elena blush. "I love you."

She forgot how many times she had said it.

"I love you. My sweetheart." Elijah replied. "My Elena."

Elijah then pulled her closer still, ignoring what he had said moments ago. He kissed her passionately, and deeply. It did not matter to him who saw how much he loved his wife. Onlookers smiled.

They then moved off together into the crowd.

**The End**


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